Many construction and mining machines, such as excavators, wheel loaders, hydraulic mining shovels, cable shovels, bucket wheels, and draglines make use of buckets to dig material out of the earth. The buckets can be subjected to extreme wear from the abrasion and impacts experienced during digging. Other construction and mining machines, such as bulldozers, also include blades or other tools that are used to move material such as soil and rock. These blades and other tools can also be subjected to extreme wear through abrasion and other wear mechanisms.
Buckets and blades and other earth-working tools can be protected against wear by including ground engaging tools (GET). GET is typically fashioned as teeth, edge protectors, and other components which are attached to the bucket or blade in the area where the most damaging abrasion and impacts occur. For example, the cutting edge of a bucket can be protected with edge protectors that wrap around and protect the edge.
Thus, one purpose of the GET is to serve as wear material and absorb wear that would otherwise occur on the bucket, blade, or other tool. The GET can be removed when it has been worn and replaced with new GET at a reasonable cost to continue to protect the bucket. Large buckets for draglines and hydraulic shovels can cost a considerable amount, so protecting them against wear and the need for early replacement is important. It is more economical to wear out and replace the GET than to wear out and replace an entire bucket.
In the case of buckets, a lip may be provided on a leading edge of the bucket. The bucket lip may include one or more noses projecting outwardly and configured to receive a replaceable tip thereon. A shroud may also be provided between the noses to protect the intermediate portion of the bucket lip. Additional types of wear members may be provided on the bucket to increase wear protection, including, for example, heel shrouds and mechanically attached wear plates. Because the wear members may be designed to be replaced after a period of use, and may therefore be secured to the bucket lip by a releasable retention system. Many retention systems are designed to be hammerless, meaning a hammer is not required to release the retention system.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,596,895, assigned to ESCO Corporation, discloses a wear assembly to protect the front edge of an excavating bucket including a wear member having a pair of legs designed to straddle a bucket lip. One of the legs includes an axial slot with opposing grooves for receipt of rails on a boss fixed to the bucket. A wear member retention system available from CQMS RAZER (Brisbane, Australia) includes a bolt configured to retain a wear member to a bucket lip. Many other wear member retention systems are known in the art, however existing retention systems can be complicated, difficult to release for replacement of wear members, or expensive, and therefore offer opportunities for improvement.
The wear assembly and retention system of the present disclosure alleviates one or deficiencies of the prior art.